background: leishmaniasis has been identified as a major public health problem in tropical and sub-tropical countries. the present study was aimed to investigate antileishmanial effects of various extracts of berberis vulgaris also its active com-poenent, berberine against leishmania tropica and l. infantum species on in vitro ex-periments. methods : in this study in vitro antileishmanial activ...

Photo 1. The Sierra de Cazorla mountains in southeastern Spain, where the study was carried out. area is characterized by rugged topography, high habitat and species diversity, outstanding degree of preservation natural vegetation. credit: Carlos M. Herrera. 2. As many other mountain areas from mid-latitudes Holarctic realm, flowering season plant communities starts well before end winter, when...

Background and objectives: Berberis vulgaris L (Berberidaceae) is a medicinal plant that is distributed in different parts of Iran; it is grown as a wild or cultivated plant. It has different pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-arrhythmic, sedative and anti-malaria effects. In this study, the anti-seizure activity of different fracti...

Podophyllotoxin is a natural lignan that is currently being used as a precursor to semi-synthetic anticancer drugs etoposide, teniposide, and etopophos. These compounds have been used for the treatment of lung and testicular cancers as well as certain leukemias (Stahelin and Wartburg 1991; Imbert 1998). The patent for the use of etoposide in such therapies expired in 1995 and since then, etopos...

It is well known that abnormality of neuroendocrine function plays an important role in the occurrence of depression. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is one of the important neuroendocrine axes, and enhanced activity of this axis is considered a key neurobiological alteration in major depression. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), the major physiological regulator of the HPA sy...

Human blood neutrophil granulocytes (neutrophils) treated with Podophyllum peltatum L.-derived compounds exhibited an enhanced oxidative response to subsequent challenge with bacterial formyl peptides. This priming effect was concerned with superoxide anion (O2-) release (respiratory burst). The phenomenon was observed with a potentized preparation containing, among other things, podophyllum ex...

The quality and quantity of medicinal plants are serious issues for the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industries. Traditionally, this material has been harvested from the wild, and while cultivation procedures have been developed for supplements such as St. John’s Wort, this is still the general method employed for the majority of medicinal plants. Increasing public demand for these pro...

Extracts and juices of cultivated and wild fruits belonging to the families Rosaceae, Grossulariaceae, Moraceae, Berberidaceae, Polygonaceae, Caprifoliaceae and Cornaceae were examined for their growth reducing activity on four bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus var. mycoides, Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens). In vitro antibacterial activities were evaluated by microdilution plate ...